The SS Riviera

Having regained his rank of Captain, father's first trip out was on the SS Riviera.  Although father held the rank of Captain, he did not hold the position of ship's captain.  Instead he was third officer - that would be the one responsible for the crew.  The Captain and Second Officer were both British.

The crew was composed of ex-British soldiers and sailors, with a few German's thrown in as well.  This detail will be come import later on - as there was more than just a little hostility between the two nationalities on board - at all levels.

SS Riviera 1946

Father had little good to say concerning the Riviera.  Apparently it was quite an old US built Liberty Ship from the war, with a tremendous rust problem - which will crop up in this disastrous voyage later.  A great deal of the crew's shipboard life revolved around painting over rust and securing plywood over holes in the deck.  Yeah, not your safest ocean going trip it would seem!  Ownership also was not quite what it seemed.  Supposedly, it had a Liberian registry and therefore wages were quite low and conditions poor, in truth it was really Panamanian and conditions were to be compared to an ocean going sweatshop - by the US inspectors!  But, none of this is important now, but will be later in this story.

In Rio de Janeiro, father was allowed the thrill of taking the ship out of port.  Unfortunately, he forgot to order 'cast off' - so tore the dock off of the shore and pulled it a quarter mile out into the bay!  He was terribly embarrassed but the captain thought it was one of the funnier things he had ever seen!  I guess officially, the responsibility belonged to the highly liquored Brazilian pilot.  So, his fault officially.  But, father was a perfectionist and was still beating himself up decades later over this goof.

The voyage continued around the horn and onto India, the beginning of the end for father's naval career.

Ports o' Call

Wouldn't you just know it?  I managed to loose father's highly fictionalize tome on his life.  Which is unfortunate because his sea voyages were by and large accurate!  Now I am stuck having to do this without his logs or pictures!

So, father was not able to get on a North Sea or Baltic based freighter, but instead made several voyages around the Atlantic Ocean for several years.  Havana, Cuba and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil were all ports they put into regularly.  Vera Cruz, Mexico was one of his favorites.  Apparently, the ship ran fruits and vegetables into Bremerhaven for distribution throughout Germany.

In his log he told about how the women of Veracuz had to walk one direction around the city square, while the men walked the other way.  I doubt this is still true, so much of tradition has been destroyed by modern western 'culture'.  In Havana he was fascinated by watching the 'devil fish' - rays covering the bottom of the harbor.  In Rio, well, it is Rio after all and lived up to its reputation of being a moral abyss.  However, he did hold the distinction of destroying the dock by not ordering the ropes cast off before putting the metal to the pedal, so to speak.

And, what became of Monika?  No idea, absolute silence from him about this period and from Uncle Fritz and Aunt Irma as well.  Mum was the word!  However, I believe that Monika's daughter was born in 1954.  So, obviously she was still in the scene and playing house - I imagine with my uncle and aunt were very involved in her life.  I also know that nothing was ever told to father's family about Monika - more than likely due to her being Jewish and I also know his family never heard a whisper about his conversion.  But, in his later writings he mentioned her by code name quite often and was very much on his mind during his later years.

And when in Bremerhaven, father was busy.  He started as a steward to the captain and each time in Bremerhaven, worked on regaining his status as a Captain through the Seaman's Union.  By 1951 he accomplished his task - a Captain's rating and time to ship out on an around the world cruise - the first of many he hoped.  But, the voyage was destined to become an international incident, which ended not only with him becoming extremely wealthy in post-war terms (for a very short period of time), but also a prisoner of the US Government.

What he feared most was exactly what was about to happen.....  And I will save that tale for next time.

Seaman's Union

Father left Monika in Hamburg and traveled to Bremerhaven by  horse drawn freight wagon to apply for openings on any form of shipping.   He was to discover an entirely new world - one of politics.

Bremerhaven was quite a mess.

First off, he was young, too young for the rank he claimed to hold.  Fear of being arrested and turned over to the Americans for execution held him back from making a pain of himself at the Union.  He needed a job, not arrested, nor dead.

Father would not talk much about his time between leaving Hamburg and shipping out on his first voyage.  He did not have enough money with him, nor could he get funds from his bank in Hamburg.  He like many other would be post-war German sailors, lived on and off of the streets.  Picking up random day labor jobs - for nothing more than food or a blanket if you were lucky.

Apparently, one of the captains took pity on him and hired him as a personal steward boy.  And father was off to sea and on to bigger changes than he had so far encountered in his life!

Hamburg - A Little History

I have mentioned the firebombing of Hamburg several times so far.  So, now seems to be a point to stop and show what my father was surrounded by.

Hamburg during the firebombing.

Photo taken soon after the fire.

 

Population returning to the remains of Hamburg.

42,000 were reported dead from the fire, 37,000 injured, over 1,000,000 left homeless, half of all buildings destroyed in the city.  This was the price borne by the population of Hamburg.  Net result?  War materials productions was stopped for one week and capacity reduced by 10%.  No, it was not manufacturing targeted, the British purposefully bombed the compact housing areas of the ordinary worker - for maximum damage and death tolls (well documented in even Britain's archives).

When people challenge me, as a Hutterite, as to my pacifism - I have to point no further than to Dresden and Hamburg, not to even mention other cities whom were also on the receiving side of the Allied cause of firebombing "strategic" targets.....